Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Albania's independence was recognized by the Conference of
London on 29 July 1913, but the drawing of the borders of Albania ignored the
demographic realities of the time. The short-lived monarchy (1914–1925) was
succeeded by an even shorter-lived first Albanian Republic (1925–1928), to be
replaced by another monarchy (1928–1939), which was annexed by Fascist Italy
and then by Nazi Germany during World War II. After
the liberation of Albania from Nazi occupation, the country became a socialist
republic, the People's Republic of Albania, which was led by Enver Hoxha
and the Party of Labour of Albania.

The People's Republic was dissolved in 1990, and the Republic
of Albania was founded in 1991. The Communists retained a stronghold in
parliament after popular support in the elections of 1991. However, in March
1992, amid liberalisation policies resulting in economic collapse and social
unrest, a new front led by the new Democratic Party took power. The economic
crisis spread in late 1996 following the failure of some Ponzi schemes
operating in the country, peaking in 1997 in an armed rebellion that led to
another mass emigration of Albanians, mostly to Italy, Greece, Switzerland,
Germany and North America.In 1999, the country was affected by the Kosovo
War, when a great number of Albanians from Kosovo found refuge in Albania.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The history of Albania emerged from the prehistoric stage
from the 4th century BC, with early records of Illyria in Greco-Roman
historiography. The modern territory of Albania has no counterpart in
antiquity, comprising parts of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia and Macedonia. The
territory remained under Roman control until the Slavic migrations of the 7th
century, and was integrated into the Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century. The
territorial nucleus of the Albanian state formed in the Middle Ages, as the
Principality of Arbër and the Kingdom of Albania. The first records of the
Albanian people as a distinct ethnicity also date to this period.

At the dawn of the establishment of the Ottoman Empire in
Southeast Europe, the geopolitical landscape was marked by scattered kingdoms
of small principalities. The Ottomans erected their garrisons throughout
southern Albania by 1415 and established formal jurisdiction over most of
Albania by 1431. Along with the Bosniaks, Muslim Albanians occupied an
outstanding position in the empire, and were the main pillars of Ottoman policy
in the Balkans.

Enjoying this privileged position in the empire, Muslim
Albanians held various administrative positions, with over two dozen Grand
Viziers of Albanian origin, such as Gen. Pasha, who commanded the Ottoman
forces during the Ottoman-Persian Wars; Gen. Ahmed, who led the Ottoman army
during the Austro-Turkish War (1663–1664); and, later, Muhammad Ali Pasha of
Egypt. In the 15th century, when the Ottomans were gaining a firm foothold in
the region, Albanian towns were organised into four principle sanjaks. The
government fostered trade by settling a sizeable Jewish colony of refugees
fleeing persecution in Spain.

Albanians could also be found throughout the empire, in
Iraq, Egypt, Algeria and across the Maghreb as vital military and
administrative retainers. This owed largely to their early use as part of the
Devşirme system. The process of Islamization was an incremental one, commencing
from the arrival of the Ottomans in the 14th century. Timar holders, the
bedrock of early Ottoman control in Southeast Europe, were not necessarily
converts to Islam, and occasionally rebelled; the most famous of these rebels
is Skanderbeg. The most significant impact on the Albanians was the gradual
Islamisation process of a large majority of the population, although such a
process only became widespread in the 17th century. Mainly Catholics converted
in the 17th century, while the Orthodox Albanians followed suit mainly in the
following century. Initially confined to the main city centres of Elbasan and
Shkoder, by this period the countryside was also embracing the new religion.

ibibo

Infinity Ads

Recent News

Recent News

About

Enjoying being blogger for sometime now. Blog about nothing specific or important....

Whatever interesting, funny, informative comes my way, I post it on my blog.So you will find my blogs are most unoriginal, with lots of flaws. So don't crucify me for plagiarism; yet it is not simple copy paste, i sprinkle my opinions here and there...